1968 Newport 4dr Hardtop restore (NL)

[Metalmarty]

Hi All,

I'm gradually going to restore my 1968 Chrysler Newport. First mechanically and maybe paint in the future.

First some backstory
I'm Martijn (26) from the Netherlands. As some of you already know, I was visiting a friend in North Carolina in January 2020 when I came across a pretty nice 1968 Chrysler Newport 4dr Hardtop. It has a 383, 727, power brakes, power steering, manual A/C and some other options. I've decided to go and take a look. The car looked pretty rough on first sight but as I continued inspecting the car it got better and better. It's pretty much what I'd call a "rough" survivor.

- Still has it's original paint from factory
- Apart from one trim piece, radio and some small stuff it was all complete
- All of the interior is really really nice
- It was running and driving, although, just barely
- Apart from some surface rust it's rustfree and rock solid!

The owner was really nice and the price was good after some debate. I could store it for a while on the property of my friends parents, which was great because I was flying back to the netherlands 2 days after.

The car was shipped to Savanna, GA in March and I've received the car in the Netherlands in April. Shipping the car to The Netherlands (including all duties and taxes) was a lot more expensive than I've hoped, but ah well...

After some research I've found the build sheet. It also appears to have a matching numbers engine. The shipping order number on the build sheet, fender tag and on the car (trunk cowl seal) all are the same.

The plan at first was to fix some stuff mandatory to get it registered in The Netherlands. But after some more inspecting it seemed more mechanically tired than I've expected. Excessive play in steering gear, all bushings dry rotted (some missing), brakes are bad, etc. So I've decided to shift my plan of driving the car to summer 2021 and go big. I'm going to rebuild the front suspension, brakes, engine, rear differential and probably a lot more.

I've already got a lot of great information and help from some of the forum members here, as well as Richard Ehrenberg, Pat Blais and others. Hopefully I can bother everybody some more with my Newport related questions.

Some information:
To get an old car registered it needs to be fully inspected. It needs to drive and brake really well. All rubbers, bushings, ball joints etc need to be in good condition without any play. It can't have excessive oil leaks. And so on. So it's pretty strict. (It's way worse with newer cars). So I knew that it would be a lot of work to do the minimum work already. After some consideration I've decided to do it right the first time.

Now first some pictures!

 

[300L]

Great car and nice story Martijn

There is always more to do on the cars than you think at the beginning. That seemt to be a natural law ;)
Do you know what happend to the trunk?
It does not look as if it had been faded by the sun.

I wish you much success in getting the vehicle onto the road quickly!

 

[Metalmarty]

Great car and nice story Martijn

There is always more to do on the cars than you think at the beginning. That seemt to be a natural law ;)
Do you know what happend to the trunk?
It does not look as if it had been faded by the sun.

I wish you much success in getting the vehicle onto the road quickly!

Thanks!
The previous owners started working on the car. I think they have removed some surface rust/bad spots and sprayed it with grey primer. It has multiple grey primer spots over the car. Still have to ask him. The whole trunk is also coated in primer.

I'm not too bothered with the outside look. The paint isn't great. Has some dimples and a dent in the passenger doors. But the interior and inside paint is in perfect condition. The whole car is solid and rust free apart from some surface rust.

I might just have it professionally resprayed on the outside in a few years. But we'll see. First things first. Getting it on the road and enjoy it for a bit!

I've started working on the car this week. So more info and pictures to come!

 

[300L]

Yes you are totaly right, driving and enjoying. They were build to drive...
THX for the extra infos Martijn!

Regards
Joerg

 

[Metalmarty]

Yes you are totaly right, driving and enjoying. They were build to drive...
THX for the extra infos Martijn!

Regards
Joerg

No problem!

Oh and I meant to ask.
I've noticed that you are from Germany. What american car/mopar events should I look out for in Europe next year?

I'm familiar with the vasteras summer meet and I want to visit the german Mopar Nationals. Any more big/small/fun events?

 

[3175375]

Hi All,

I'm gradually going to restore my 1968 Chrysler Newport. First mechanically and maybe paint in the future.

First some backstory
I'm Martijn (26) from the Netherlands. As some of you already know, I was visiting a friend in North Carolina in January 2020 when I came across a pretty nice 1968 Chrysler Newport 4dr Hardtop. It has a 383, 727, power brakes, power steering, manual A/C and some other options. I've decided to go and take a look. The car looked pretty rough on first sight but as I continued inspecting the car it got better and better. It's pretty much what I'd call a "rough" survivor.

- Still has it's original paint from factory
- Apart from one trim piece, radio and some small stuff it was all complete
- All of the interior is really really nice
- It was running and driving, although, just barely
- Apart from some surface rust it's rustfree and rock solid!

The owner was really nice and the price was good after some debate. I could store it for a while on the property of my friends parents, which was great because I was flying back to the netherlands 2 days after.

The car was shipped to Savanna, GA in March and I've received the car in the Netherlands in April. Shipping the car to The Netherlands (including all duties and taxes) was a lot more expensive than I've hoped, but ah well...

After some research I've found the build sheet. It also appears to have a matching numbers engine. The shipping order number on the build sheet, fender tag and on the car (trunk cowl seal) all are the same.

The plan at first was to fix some stuff mandatory to get it registered in The Netherlands. But after some more inspecting it seemed more mechanically tired than I've expected. Excessive play in steering gear, all bushings dry rotted (some missing), brakes are bad, etc. So I've decided to shift my plan of driving the car to summer 2021 and go big. I'm going to rebuild the front suspension, brakes, engine, rear differential and probably a lot more.

I've already got a lot of great information and help from some of the forum members here, as well as Richard Ehrenberg, Pat Blais and others. Hopefully I can bother everybody some more with my Newport related questions.

Some information:
To get an old car registered it needs to be fully inspected. It needs to drive and brake really well. All rubbers, bushings, ball joints etc need to be in good condition without any play. It can't have excessive oil leaks. And so on. So it's pretty strict. (It's way worse with newer cars). So I knew that it would be a lot of work to do the minimum work already. After some consideration I've decided to do it right the first time.

Now first some pictures!

View attachment 393355
View attachment 393356
View attachment 393357
View attachment 393358
View attachment 393359
View attachment 393360
View attachment 393361
View attachment 393362
View attachment 393363

Thank you for mentioning me. 8^}
Great car and post!
I will post updates on my efforts. But understand, I have 10 other vehicles, plus 16+ acres to deal with and they all are screaming for attention...

 

[300L]

Hopefully next year the situation will be such that larger car shows can take place.

Mopar only events are the season opener/closer at Moparshop Olfen, the Mopar Nats Herten and Mopar Spring Fling Stade.
There are several shows in the Ruhrgebiet and behind the borden, too much to list.
Here is a link were you can find a lot: Termine - AmeriCar - Das Online-Magazine für US-Car-Fans

I would be happy to meet you and your car at the car shows next year!

 

[Metalmarty]

Thank you for mentioning me. 8^}
Great car and post!
I will post updates on my efforts. But understand, I have 10 other vehicles, plus 16+ acres to deal with and they all are screaming for attention...

No problem and thanks!
Wow, that's a lot to keep up.
I only have 3 cars (Daily and 2 Oldies) and no yard which needs work.
Nontheless, it's still hard to find time sometimes.

Hopefully next year the situation will be such that larger car shows can take place.

Mopar only events are the season opener/closer at Moparshop Olfen, the Mopar Nats Herten and Mopar Spring Fling Stade.
There are several shows in the Ruhrgebiet and behind the borden, too much to list.
Here is a link were you can find a lot: Termine - AmeriCar - Das Online-Magazine für US-Car-Fans

I would be happy to meet you and your car at the car shows next year!

Thanks for the info!
Moparshop Olfen is only a 2 hour drive apparently, which isn't too bad.
And that would be great! We'll get in touch when the new season starts (hopefully everything is back to normal by then)

 

[3175375]

No problem and thanks!
Wow, that's a lot to keep up.
I only have 3 cars (Daily and 2 Oldies) and no yard which needs work.
Nontheless, it's still hard to find time sometimes.



Thanks for the info!
Moparshop Olfen is only a 2 hour drive apparently, which isn't too bad.
And that would be great! We'll get in touch when the new season starts (hopefully everything is back to normal by then)

You are correct. Having a tree trimmer clean up a few trees (this is after he already made one pass) and thin out a spruce grove. The spruce grove is crowding 30+ years after being planted.

 

[cbarge]

Metalmarty this thread is a good place to start documenting the restoration.
Keep us posted!!

 

[68 4spd Fury]

Great car, always loved the roof line on that hardtop.

 

[cbarge]

Great car, always loved the roof line on that hardtop.

Ditto...

 

[Metalmarty]

You are correct. Having a tree trimmer clean up a few trees (this is after he already made one pass) and thin out a spruce grove. The spruce grove is crowding 30+ years after being planted.

View attachment 393373
View attachment 393371 View attachment 393372

Wow, great place. I'm a little jealous to be honest.
I'm currently living in a rental apparment and I'm renting my garage.
Houses are insanely expensive in The Netherlands last couple years. Especially the ones with a big garden and a garage.
Something like that would be the dream.

Metalmarty this thread is a good place to start documenting the restoration.
Keep us posted!!

Exactly my idea! Documenting a build like this always nice and this is a good medium.
I will try to post regularly

Great car, always loved the roof line on that hardtop.

Thanks. I like the hardtop roofline a lot more than the normal sedan too.
The subtle differences are just perfect.

Ditto...
View attachment 393379

Still a beautifull picture...
@cbarge First questions. My trunk weathering seal is glued to the car. Is this supposed to be like this? Or is it supposed to be clip on?
Also my trunk weathering strip (rubber) is bad, as well as my window rubbers. Any idea where I can get new ones?
Forgot to make pictures, hope that you know what I mean. If not, I will make pictures somewhere this week.

 

[hanks71440]

Thanks for the story Marty and thats a great car you got there. You will find that the members on this site are awesome and a wealth of knowledge. Good luck and post pics as you work on it.

 

[SPF Required]

Welcome! Great looking car. And that interior is indeed really really nice.

I recently rebuilt some of my instrument panel in my 1968 300 and learned a lot about the trouble the ammeter can cause for these old cars. I see above @cbarge is already following this thread. Seek out his other posts for guidance...especially the ones about the ammeter bypass. If during your rebuild you do have the repair the instrument panel, you should contemplate some led bulbs and solid state voltage limiter for the fuel gauge.

there is so much knowledge here on this site! You are really going to appreciate this place.

 

[bigmoparjeff]

Hi Martijn,

It looks like you are off to a great start. You picked out a very nice and solid car to start with.

Your new plan is the correct one. Even though it will be a larger investment in time and money to do so, it's best to completely go through the mechanicals in the beginning. If you don't, you end up with constant problems whenever you want to use the car. These cars are 50 years old now, and they are just due to have all the wear items replaced.

Good luck with the project and keep us posted on your progress.

Jeff

 

[Metalmarty]

Thanks for the story Marty and thats a great car you got there. You will find that the members on this site are awesome and a wealth of knowledge. Good luck and post pics as you work on it.

Thanks!
I will keep you guys up to date.
I think I will have more than a few questions down the road, so all the help is welcome!

Welcome! Great looking car. And that interior is indeed really really nice.

I recently rebuilt some of my instrument panel in my 1968 300 and learned a lot about the trouble the ammeter can cause for these old cars. I see above @cbarge is already following this thread. Seek out his other posts for guidance...especially the ones about the ammeter bypass. If during your rebuild you do have the repair the instrument panel, you should contemplate some led bulbs and solid state voltage limiter for the fuel gauge.

there is so much knowledge here on this site! You are really going to appreciate this place. View attachment 393408

Nice car. Nice color also.
I probably need to rebuild parts of my instrument panel too.
The dimmer switch is broken, speedo doesn't work, fan doesn't work, I've got to much resistance in my ignition circuit and someone worked on parts of the wiring that shouldn't be touching any of it. The am-meter was bypassed already, but not before the bulkhead connector melted.

I already have a new bulkhead connector, new pins are on the way. I'm going to rewire most of the engine harness and parts of the instrument panel.
Electrical gremlins are the worst to figure out, so might as wel dig deep.
It is going to take me a while, seeing how many wires are in the dash...

I already messaged quiet a bit with @cbarge
He has been a big help already.
I also bought a AM/FM radio and the missing trim piece from him

Any more info on the solid state voltage limiter?

Hi Martijn,

It looks like you are off to a great start. You picked out a very nice and solid car to start with.

Your new plan is the correct one. Even though it will be a larger investment in time and money to do so, it's best to completely go through the mechanicals in the beginning. If you don't, you end up with constant problems whenever you want to use the car. These cars are 50 years old now, and they are just due to have all the wear items replaced.

Good luck with the project and keep us posted on your progress.

Jeff

Thanks! I'm really glad with the car. The fact that the interior is in really good condition and that the car is rocksolid makes up for a lot of mechincal issues.
And yeah, exactly what I was thinking. Do it right the first time or don't...

 

[live4theking]

Nice ride.

 

[Imperialist67]

Great to see this one find a good home in the NL. You have the right approach, get it street/roadworthy to enjoy, and go from there. Power steering/brakes, and AC; all the options you REALLY need anyway. When it comes time to paint, consider giving the roof a contrasting color, it really enhances the roofline, which is in '68 was quite nice.

 

[SPF Required]

This is the one I got recently. It sits on the back of the instrument panel and reduces the voltage to the fuel gauge.

Voltage Limiter Solid State IVR3

new one next to the old one:

I still need to get something figured out as my gauge is still not working right, but I think this was a step in the right direction.

Getting a solid state voltage regulator for under the hood is also highly recommended. I found one on eBay before I realized there is a person on this site that sells them too. I don’t recall the member, but I am betting someone will chime in.

I look forward to following your progress.